Boston Micromachines Corp. said today it has manufactured a deformable mirror for detecting eye diseases at earlier stages.

The Watertown company, a provider of products for adaptive optics systems, said its new deformable mirror can be used for ultra high-resolution retinal imaging, which can result in far earlier detection of glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration.

"This new deformable mirror represents a significant scientific advancement in the field of biological imaging, specifically vision science," Paul Bierden, company president, said in a statement. "Until now, doctors were limited in their ability to gain a clear view of the human retina due to image distortion caused by tissue-induced wavefront aberration. Our deformable mirror corrects for that wavefront aberration."